We are parents who are deeply concerned about the new Ontario sex education curriculum. That curriculum inappropriately pushes adult sexual content onto children of tender years, as young as age six. It tells grade school children to think of themselves as sexually available when they legally, emotionally and morally should not be. It grooms children for every possible expression of sexuality, imposing the most extreme views of sex on every family's child.

This sex-ed curriculum was imposed upon Ontario families in a secretive manner, with no meaningful consultation. Even more troubling, the Ontario government has not disclosed the full extent of the involvement of Ben Levin, the former deputy minister of education, who has announced that he will plead guilty to criminal charges of pedophilia and child pornography. The curriculum's emphasis on the early sexualization of children is reminiscent of grooming techniques used by child predators.

Schools are supposed to be safe places for children, and teachers are supposed to protect them. This curriculum undermines that trust, by making classrooms a place where children will lose their innocence by order of the government. This curriculum pits teachers against parents and undermines family authority with the authority of the government.

The new Ontario Health and Physical Education curriculum for Grades 1-8 has been released. Click here to view the primary document. Below are a few excerpts:

Human Development and Sexual Health. Human development and sexual health education is more than simply teaching young people about the anatomy and physiology of reproduction. Sexual health, understood in its broadest sense, can include a wide range of topics and concepts, from sexual development, reproductive health, choice and sexual readiness, consent, abstinence, and protection, to interpersonal relationships, sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression, affection and pleasure, body image, and gender roles and expectations. (p. 38)

Some students with special education needs may have difficulty with abstract thinking, including thinking about the consequences of their behaviour, and may have trouble understanding the boundaries between private and public with respect to behaviour or their own bodies. When teaching students with special education needs about sexual health, it is important to teach the information in a variety of ways and to provide ample opportunity for information to be repeated and for skills such as refusal skills to be practised and reinforced. Examples need to be concrete. Students need to be taught about their right to refuse and about ways of showing affection appropriately and recognizing and respecting consent. (p. 61)

Teacher prompt: “The term abstinence can mean different things to different people. People can also have different understandings of what is meant by having or not having sex. (p. 196)

Student prompt: ... Teenagers need to understand how important it is to talk with their partners about sexual health choices, consent, and keeping safe. They have to develop the skills to communicate their thoughts effectively, listen respectfully, and read body cues in these conversations. This takes practice.” (p. 219)

Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne

Sign the petition!

We demand that the government of Ontario repeal the proposed sex-ed curriculum that sexualizes young children, undermines parental authority and imposes the government's particular approach to morality on every Ontario family.